2009 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 disintegration

05/04/2012

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Every Ford Mustang wrench-turner knows one of the first steps in any engine swap is to first remove the original power plant. This takes careful planning, time, choice swear words, and bloody knuckles on occasion. Well, a most-fortunate Utah woman found a rapid deploy (and “safe” in this case, thankfully) methodology for removing the engine for dis-replacement. Shannon Welch was at the wheel of her 2009 Shelby GT500 when she made some choice navigational moves near I-15 at mile marker 16. Her driving behavior led to her Ford Mustang careening about and successfully demolishing all things there abouts, launching the GT500’s V8 motor into the front of the vehicle behind her. Yikes!

The good news: Miss Welch and two others involved in the GT500 disembowelment were not harmed. The bad news: the Shelby GT500 (pictured ab0ve) cannot say the same.

Keep reading to get the full scoop in the news clip following…

News Bite

ST. GEORGE – A 33-year-old St. George woman was transported by ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon following a two-vehicle accident just under Interstate 15 at mile marker 16.

Shannon Welch was driving a 2009 Ford Mustang on state Route 9 when she cut in front of another vehicle to get on the southbound I-15 entrance, hitting the dirt barrier located at the base of the freeway structure, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Dan Ferguson.

Once her vehicle hit the dirt, the car broke off in pieces as her car continued forward and struck the cement barrier to the freeway, Ferguson said.

The engine from the Ford Mustang struck the front of the vehicle behind Welch’s car, he said.

“We are still investigating the cause of the accident, but we do know that speed was a factor,” he said.

Welch sustained serious injuries as a result of the crash, he said.

“The car, from the backseat forward is entirely disintegrated,” he said. “She is lucky. Fortunately it seems like this accident is survivable.”

The other two individuals, two young men, in the other vehicle that hit the Mustang’s engine are reportedly uninjured, Ferguson said.